Vote for WildPlaces!!

So the WildPlaces BatBox Duet has finally arrived and I have been playing detective in the back garden. Turns out my resident bat is none other than a little common pipistrelle (still exciting nonetheless). And there I was making it out to be some monster bat. Tut. Tut.


Anyway, this month (or should I say last month) has been a super busy month, hence the lack of communications on the blog. The first highlight of the month was the BioBlitz which was held at Ashington Community Woodlands this year. I was charged with setting up cameras and capturing loads and loads of exciting footage of beasties in the woodland. And beasties did I get! Most notable beastie was Paul Salmon, our Eco-North manager, doing a newt survey while rocking a pair of waders that looked suspiciously like thigh-high boots. Still, clad in those 'waders' Paul was able to net us some horse leeches, smooth newts and a cool common toad. That was three species added to the BioBlitz count. More traditional beasties caught on my cameras included red squirrels, roe deer, a fox and lots of magpies, pigeons and crows. One of my cameras was mounted way up in a pine tree to try and capture the elusive little red. Memories of myself and Paul A lugging the ladder through the woodland, on what was possibly the hottest day of the year so far, still makes me shudder. It is not an experience that I wish to repeat. And to top it all off, the red squirrels didn't even bother to visit my carefully constructed squirrel feeder. No, I got footage of the little critters munching squirrel feed (cheating, I know) on the ground, in front of a camera reserved for foxes! Hey, I can't complain, footage of red squirrel is footage of red squirrel. During the BioBlitz I also had the pleasure of meeting student extraordinaire Chantelle. She kindly helped me to remove all the cameras once the BB was over, without the need of hoisting a ladder about. Brilliant. This girl should've been born a squirrel. She somehow managed to scurry up a tree (a pine tree!) and unlock and untangle one camera in one awkward position. Boy did that save me a tantrum or two!! Hmmm, don't try that one at home kids. So, well done to Elaine and the team for organising a fantastic blitz of all things bio (and for organising a comfy bed at the end of a very long day 1). I think everybody had a great time and overall, we managed to record over 3 000 different species - really impressive for an urban woodland. And it just goes to show that there's plenty of wildlife out there if you look hard enough for it.

Oh, and i swear this is a red squirrel. Some silly silly man investigated my little GL80 in the hedge and then thought it would be a brilliant idea to swish it about and ruin any subsequent shots. Messing with my art. How very dare he.

Second highlight of the month has been the filming of some wonderful little fox cubs at the Your Homes Newcastle in South Gosforth. The cubs have been spotted frolicking in the parking lot of the offices so I was there like a shot. On arrival at YHN, I was pleased to see signs all over warning people to 'drive slow. Fox cubs playing.' I decided to put up two of the HD stealth cams to capture the antics of the cubs and, unlike the Ouseburn Otter, these little guys are naive. They didn't try to hide from the cameras and sneak about like some creatures I know so I managed to get some really sweet shots of them. Paul will be editing the footage soon but this is a taster of things to come ....

Speaking of fox cubs, Paul has been out and about setting up cameras in gardens all around the North East as the cubs come out to play. Keep an eye on Facebook and YouTube in the near future to see the videos that he managed to get. Ooooh and check out http://www.urbanwildplaces.co.uk/ and check out our swish new website and vote for WildPlaces to win a National Lottery award. Please.